Let the Bad Times ROLL
by The Black Butcher
Summary: The Union. A faceless army of destruction, harbingers of the fourth turning point of the revolution. Sworn enemy to the Polity and the Vanguard and masters of the Nemesis! We have seen how the story of the Vanguard unfolded and their victory over said Nemesis, but what of the story of the Union side of the conflict. And what if... the two sides weren't so different after all.
1. Chapter 1

"His mental state continues to remain unaffected by our usual methods," A male voice with an aura of the danger and deceptiveness of a snake laced in it spoke, followed by the sound of a pen writing something. "The subject residing in this 'Holon' as he has referred to the automatonic body housing a digital version of his human brain appears to possess quite the willpower to resist our methods for two years now."

The person currently speaking was Professor. "Severus Narcadia" of the Great Union of the Fourth Turing Republics. He had died dark blue hair with light blue streaks, and sea green eyes, and usually wore a white lab coat with a dark blue trim, a light cyan shirt with a red tie underneath, and gray boots. He also wore a bandanna around his neck that was designed to look like a large amount of shark teeth when worn. He was one of the best scientists and high on the food chain in the Union Central Command. Having a grand total of nine PHD'S in the fields of chemistry, marine biology, and biology, as well as 4 masters in small fields of engineering and psychology each.

Due to his expertise in the field of biology and his familiarity in how the human brain works, he had been assigned to see just how the 'Holon' that had been captured managed to work in conjunction with a digitized human brain. However after two years all they knew was that the brain in question belonged to a Julian Chase of the Vanguard branch of the Polity. So because of the lack of information they had decided that having only one in their possession was too risky to dissect since there was no room for any kind of error, so it was agreed upon that the would study what they could and all the while be trying to win over Julian to their side. But after two years with little to no results, Severus had all of the Union leaders breathing down his neck, and they were demanding results soon or he would be sent back to the work camps. He had worked hard to get where he was in the Union right now and refused to let this be his downfall.

"What's the matter doc?" A deeper more scratchy voice said to his right, Severus not even bothering to look at the arrival instead continuing to write down what little notes he managed to get from his last session with Julian. "Come on going quiet again. Let me guess, failed to get anything useful out of and metallic."

"Don't you have something better to do than annoy me Logan?" Severus asked as he received a weak chuckle in response, as well as the sound of a bunch of tiny pricks jabbing at the floor in rapid succession.

Logan, or as his full name was Logan Parker was the Union's head mechanic and top engineer that they had. Possessing 14 PHD's and 12 master degrees in different forms of engineering. He had brownish black hair, with blue eyes, and a sickly pale white skin since he hardly went into the sun at all, that was also covered in freckles. He usually wore a grayish black short sleeved shirt with a pair of black uniform jeans that had been designed specifically for him, with crimson trimming along the leg and waist holes, and a yellow stripe extending from the sides of the waist all the way down to the leg. He also wore a set of knee and elbow guards as well as a pair of gray finger less gloves. His hair had the tendency to droop over his eyes since he was always suspended in a diagonal like position due to his condition. Since he had been born without the use of his legs he had always needed a wheelchair to move around, however after he had gained the Unions attention prior to the war by earning around half of all of his current doctrines he currently possessed, they offered to give him the necessary supplies and resources to make new legs for himself. He spent months developing the advanced schematics and had to ask Severus for help since he was the mechanical person and not the human body person. Finally after six weeks of constant development the first prototype limbs had been developed. Seeing the added benefits that an extra pair of hand would provide in his line of work he managed to graft a set of four spider like limbs directly into his spine, tying into his brain allowing him to move them with just his mind. Sure it took practice getting used to always having to clack around everywhere like a spider but his production and development speed had been increased more than double from when he was wheelchair bound.

After this as a way to say thanks to the Union he took all of their schematics for their current androids and vehicles and improved them tenfold with stronger and more efficient designs and upgrades. In a way if he hadn't done that then the attack on New York would not have worked. In return he was elevated in rank and put into the Union's inner circle of elite operatives, along with Severus whom gained equal rank as him. However since they both helped each other did not mean they had to like each other as Logan's reclusive and isolationist type personality, and Severus's getting his hands dirty and brutal cunning personality didn't mesh well. Make no mistake they could tolerate each other, just not for long periods of time which was where the problems came in.

Currently they were both assigned to work on learning all they could about the Gen:Lock technology from the Holon they managed to capture with Severus learning how the mind was able to be translated from a organic to a robotic body, and Logan was tasked with learning how the Holon was built and how it operated. However Logan would usually take things completely apart and go through each piece one at a time as it was easier to understand inner working that way, since he could then rebuild each individual piece separately. But after a near fatal accident had happened when they nearly lost Julian's mind in the Holon he had been warned not to try and take the thing apart again, which put an extreme limit to what he could do. So he was having to see and learn what he could by just removing the armor plating and seeing what the fleshy inside body looked like and all of the little clues it gave.

"Not until three when it's my turn to get a crack at the prisoner," Logan said as he cracked his neck with his hands, his spider legs shifting to the left a little bit with his motion. "You did remember that, didn't you."

"Yes I remember fully well that you get your turn at the Holon from three to five, however it is only two fifty meaning I have ten minutes left," Severus said as he clicked his pen shut and prepared to get back down to the floor where the Holon was being held. However before the door to the lift closed he turned back to look at his associate."Perhaps if you spent more time in a textbook instead of a comic book you would understand how time works." Severus mocked the fact that Logan was the youngest person in the inner group being only 18, and still had a few childish tendencies such as reading comic books. It didn't interfere with his work so the higher ups permitted it so long as it didn't become a problem.

Logan let out a growl of annoyance as the doors to the lift closed and Severus descended out of his reach. "IT'S CALLED MANGA!" he called down to where the lift used to be, now there just being an empty space. "If you were so smart than you should have gotten it right, stupid shark." Logan mumbled in annoyance under his breath, using Severus's nickname or the shortened version of his call-sign.

Still the Doctor was right about it still being his turn to see what he could learn with the Holon, but that didn't mean Logan couldn't get his equipment ready for when his time came. Of course what kind of engineer would he be if he didn't have his tools on him twenty four seven. As he worked more with the Union and gained more privileges he continued to upgrade and improve upon his added limbs. Now he had managed to add basically an entire tool box function scattered into the different ones with one being able to act as a welder, one having a screwdriver move with a rapid turning mechanism, one having a wrench function added into it, and the other getting a high powered saw placed inside of it for when he needed to trim or cut through metals. Naturally all of these were hidden inside the legs as despite his passion and love of being an engineer he was sent on a few combat missions now and then, and his tool systems had managed to catch quite a few enemy's off guard. After all when your fighting an army do you expect them to come at you with a gun, or a wrench and a screwdriver on spider legs. Logan had also practiced using his legs in nearly every situation and way he could think useful and added improvements where he saw fit, this made it so he could basically walk on any surface including the ceiling if he wanted to.

As Logan waited for the lift to come back up so he could get down to the Holon holding cell, he paid no attention to the plethora of Union troops that were around him. Since New York had become the main Union stronghold since the war started it was teeming with robotic troops and vehicles of his design, including the nano tech which roamed freely across the entire city exterminating anyone who wasn't union. Of course none of this would have been possible without him since he had been the one to even create the design for the Union's spider tanks, which had nothing to do with the fact that he was basically a spider himself. Still no one could deny the usefulness of a multi terrain walking tank with grapple lines and turrets built into it, that could also deploy small amount of nano machines and troops. As Logan tapped one of his spider legs in annoyance he noticed a group of human troops looking at him as if judging him, which annoyed him greatly since they should be minding their own business.

"What are you looking at!" Logan growled threateningly at them as they both flinched and walked off. As he turned back to face the lift it signaled that it was open and he stepped in. "Serves them right."

After a few seconds the lift began it's descent again, back down to where they where holding the Holon of Julian Chase. Despite the fact that he was no pushover engineer himself Logan couldn't deny that whomever had created this Holon were extremely good and dare he say better than him. But that only meant that there was a challenge out there to be completed and that this Holon was merely a piece of a puzzle. and if there was another thing Logan was good at it was puzzles.

As he the lift was going down he felt a buzz in his pocket, signalling he got message. Grabbing his phone and opening it up he couldn't help but crack a small smile as he saw who had texted him.

"Heya mate whatcha doin?" A person labeled as 'Ch33ky6ir1' on his phone asked via text.

"Nothing much, about to start a task for work." Logan muttered to himself subconsciously as he sent a message back.

Almost five seconds later he received another reply. "Darn. Well how bou' whenya done we ge' on the Ether and hang?" Ch33ky6ir1 asked and Logan could swear he felt snark coming through her words.

"Why not, not like I got anything else to do afterwards." Logan replied as he then noticed the lift stopping, and the door opening. "GTG! See you in the Ether 6:30 ;)" He replied as he then turned off his phone, and exited the lift.

As he exited he looked up at the large figure of the Holon they had captured. Over the two years that they had had him captured they had built a mini complex around him for study. They had chained him up with the strongest locks for a mecha they had ever made, bounding his arms and legs so he couldn't move them. They also had ten on hand spider tanks in position should Julian try anything to escape whenever the occasion to remove the shackles presented itself. There were also around a dozen large containers of Nano tech that was around for both the experiments they had planned for the Holon and just in case the tanks weren't enough to stop him should he get out.

"Alright Parker your on the clock." Severus said as he walked past Logan who just glanced at him in acknowledgment before continuing on towards the Holon.

Using his spider leg attachments and their massive range of mobility and flexibility Logan effortlessly climbed over the ledges of the various catwalks that were built around the Holon without even needing to use his hands. He kept on traversing the area until he reached the very front of the Holon at the face.

"Hello Chase. How ya been?" Logan asked sarcastically using two of his legs to hold himself in midair over the ledge of a catwalk, suspending himself in front of the head.

"Go to hell." Chase growled as the Holon's head moved slightly to signify he was looking at him.

"Tried that already," Logan said snarkily as he let out a small giggle. "They said no returns."

Chase remained quiet as he watched the two spider like limbs that weren't holding Logan up in the air move closer towards his face. "Now then I think we've been delayed by you long enough," Logan said with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he moved closer towards the head of the Holon. "So I finally got permission to do a little dissection on you."

As he said that the two limbs that weren't holding him up began to shift as their ends opened up revealing his blowtorch and high powered saw attachments, which both activated immediately as Logan began snickering to himself.

"Open wide!" Logan said before he began his work at taking apart the Holon's head.

* * *

Severus was annoyed right now for a plethora of different reasons, although the main one was the fact that still after two years he hadn't been able to crack anything useful out of the prisoner. Even though there was technically a human inside of it, he still considered it a robot since he was made of metal and not flesh. He let out a sigh as he pushed a lone strand of hair our of his face back behind him. If he was going to keep up his continued usefulness to the Union high command he needed something substantial to give them.

"He thinks that after all this time the Vanguard will still come for him," Severus said to himself as he flipped through all of the notes he had written throughout the many sessions he had with Julian. He still preferred the method of pen and paper over electronic notes since he didn't want hackers getting a hold of all of his research, screw how much faster a computer could do he was fine writing it down. "If that's the only thing keeping him strong then I guess we need the Vanguard to break him for us." He continued as a smirk spread across his face as he began calculating exactly how he could use the Vanguard to his advantage, taking his pen out and starting a new page in his notes.

As he began to dock down all of the various ideas that came into his head, suddenly the alarm started blaring.

"What in the-" Severus started to say before the wall beside him burst open revealing the form of Logan on the floor. "Hell."

"Yeah so... he got loose," Logan said nervously as he saw the growing irritation present itself on Severus's face as his eyes narrowed in on him. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Get him back under control," Severus growled as Logan used his spider legs to pull himself up. "Or it wont be me that will be hurting you, but the high command if they find out we lost the only piece of Gen:Lock tech we have."

Both of them acknowledged each other silently knowing how bad that would be for the both of them should he escape and make it back to the Vanguard or somehow destroy himself in the process.

"I'll stall you suit up!" Logan said as Severus nodded to him before he started clacking away rapidly back towards the area where the Holon was currently busy destroying the current forces that were present.

Severus began running towards the nearby armory to equip himself with his battle suit which had been given to him as a means of defense whenever he was out in the field. Basically it was a more armored version of his usual uniform but it had an experimental Mega Man type blaster that took up one of the hands and other various pieces of new experimental tech that Logan had "improved" to his liking. These included the advanced HUD goggles that were tinted red which could display a number of information to him, a breathing system and oxygen tank should he ever need to not breath the air around him, and another amount of various small gadgets that varied in function. Then there was the aesthetic points on it that Severus had requested be on there such as the armors primarily blue ranged color scheme and the fact that his bandana remained with him on the armor around his neck.

"Never a dull moment here is there." Severus said as his armor was placed on him by an auto equipping system that had been installed.

Rushing to the scene where the Holon continued to bash into every single unit that tried to come it's way Severus couldn't help but marvel at the power that it possessed. For a person in a robotic body that is, still he had to be put back in his place. Charging up his cannon he sent a wave of blast's towards the Holon gaining it's attention.

"YOU WANTED ME TO COOPERATE! WELL COOPERATE WITH THIS!" Chase yelled from inside the Holon as he charged forward towards Severus, ignoring the blasts that kept striking where if he were in a human body the vital points would be. "AGH!" He screamed as he sent his fist into the ground, Severus having used an experimental propulsion pack to dodge the strike. "TRY AND RUN IT WON'T STOP ME!" Chase declared as he reoriented himself and grabbed a large oil container that was in the room and threw it at Severus who was having difficulty maintaining his flight.

"Illogical." Severus said as he glanced to his right for a split second and deactivated his propulsion system allowing him to fall below where the oil container was flying. However that meant that now he was free falling a good ten stories height which would be fatal if not for one tiny detail. Before he collided with the ground Logan rushed under where Severus was falling and caught him with his limbs avoiding impact.

"Your welcome." Logan said snarkily as he set Severus down before they both jumped away from each other avoiding a drone that had been thrown towards them.

"Talk later after our necks are in the clear!" Severus ordered as he moved to get a better vantage point and take cover.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Logan growled back as he prepped his legs for another attempt to rush at the Holon.

As Logan was busy doing that Severus was up in the higher less destroyed catwalks firing shots off at Chase while moving with extreme accuracy due to an auto aim feature that had been installed.

"I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!" Chase declared as he grabbed one of the destroyed spider tank carcasses and threw it at Logan, who jumped in shock and barely managed to skitter away.

"HEY! You do not attack an engineer with his own tank. That's like rule number one." Logan mocked as he used the cover that Chase's attack had given him and hid inside the dark shadows of the room.

It was the difference between his and Severus's fighting styles. Severus was fine going in and getting his hands dirty with whatever he needed to do, while Logan much more preferred the cowards approach and striking from behind in the shadows. Just because he knew how to fight didn't mean that he wanted to, in fact he was actually quite cowardly when it came to one on one fights since he hated pain and had a low tolerance for it. That was probably why he got a thrill from making others suffer through pain since it was something he couldn't take himself, which in retrospect he supposed he just liked to hurt people.

Logan watched as the swarms of automated droids and the few remaining spider tanks tried their best to disable the Holon, but were having a hard time succeeding since the Holon was more advanced than them and was more mobile and stronger than them. Then he couldn't discount the person inside of the Holon who probably had a lot of built up anger inside of him from the many years of being the Union's prisoner and being forced to undergo various treatment in an attempt to break him. Still though it was a fun scene to watch since it was practically something out of a mecha series anime, which unironically Logan watched or listened to while he was alone and busy building new things in his private workshop.

"COME OUT SPIDER MAN SO I CAN CRUSH YOU!" Chase yelled in rage as he began smashing all nearby structures around him and throwing or kicking the debris everywhere in hopes of somehow hitting Logan.

"5...4...3...2...1!" Logan whispered to himself as he was busy plotting an attack course for his latest sneak attack.

Due to the massive damage Chase was causing, he inadvertently created a multitude of different routes he could take to attack him. Using his limbs Logan propelled himself forward and jumped on a crate that was still in mid air from being thrown, then he swung himself forward and landed between the rubble of a downed catwalk. Chase having noticed him yelled out in rage as he picked up a nearby crate and threw it at him, which Logan narrowly manged to dodge by moving to the side. Next he jumped up on a large pile of rubble consisting of downed spider tanks, and disappeared into the inner workings of the legs.

"YOU CANT HIDE FROM ME!" Chase yelled as he ran over and started grabbing the bodies of the tanks, starting from the top and throwing them into the union forces that were recovering from being taken out earlier in his outburst.

Meanwhile Logan was squirming through the corpses of the spider tanks,in an attempt to get underneath the Holon without it knowing. That would give him a clean shot at disabling the legs which would let them get him back under control. Smirking Logan looked out through a small opening and saw Chase prepare to lift the tank that he was in. Using his legs he began to quickly and silently tear a hole through the bottom of the tank so he could drop down as it was being picked up. As expected Chase threw the tank away just as Logan hit the floor unnoticed and skittered through the opening between the Holon's legs.

"Timber." Logan said as he activated his high powered saw and rotating screwdriver and began to cut into and take apart the legs of the Holon.

"AGH!" Chase yelled in pain as he could feel everything in the Holon as if it were his own body.

Logan had gripped onto the leg and began using his hands to hold himself up as the remaining attachment on his other legs activated allowing him to quickly tear of giant pieces of the armor on the Holon, causing it to loose its balance and start stumbling.

"GET OFF MY LEGS!" Chase yelled as he tried to use the leg Logan was attached to and roundhouse kick a pile of debris.

Logan not noticing fully what was happening didn't react until it was too late and ended up loosing his grip on the Holon's let, and getting knocked out. "Man... down." Logan weakly managed to say before he lost consciousness, his head tilting to the side.

Chase walked over slowly due to a newfound limp in his right leg that had most of it's armor and inner workings torn off. "You wanted to see just how my insides worked," Chase said as he barely managed to grab a crushed shipping container. "Lets see how your insides worked when their squashed like an insect!"

Before Chase could slam the container into the unconscious form of Logan, swarms of nano bots appeared and began surrounding him. "NO! GET OFF ME!" Chase tried to yell as he dropped the container in the struggle as more nano bots kept appearing. They slowly began to collect around the body of the Holon forming a complete locking device that restricted any movement. "LET ME GO!"

"I leave to have lunch for five minutes and this happens." An irritated voice that sounded like he had an infinite echo of itself said as a separate swarm of nanobots appeared and began condensing themselves into a humanoid form. That humanoid form basically being a mannequin looking thing that was purple and had the usual purple nanobot mist coming off of it, and just pure black holes where the eyes should have been.

This was the commander of the current base and unit that was in charge of unlocking the secrets of the Gen:Lock tech as well as the main unit that the Union sent out into their large scale attacks whenever they used another tactic other than bleeding in. The commander, who had long since given up his human name due to being trapped in a perpetual state of limbo, only being able to exist in a series of digital code in the nanobots had adopted the name Terminex. Being the strongest member of the Union's inner circle of elite and the highest ranked among them, only being outranked by the high command was basically the top dog of all Union forces. He was the head strategist and leader out in the field as since he could control the nanobots without them being coded, meaning he could easily slip around to any stray or advancing enemy forces and take them out. He also used his nanobot form to have a fully aerial view of both sides of the battle field allowing him to direct his troops like a game of chess. And unfortunately he was also the one who took the main beatings from the high council whenever someone or something else in the Union went wrong, and he had very little doubt that when word of this incident got out the high command would have a field day tearing him a new one.

"Would anyone care to explain to me why the prisoner was running loose?" Terminex asked as he looked around at the recovering Union forces, his eyes landing on the approaching form of Severus. "Lieutenant Severus, do you have an answer?"

"I do not sir, I only joined the conflict once Lieutenant Parker came crashing through a wall into a pathway I was using." Severus said in a professional military like manner.

"So this is all Parker's fault then, why I am not surprised in the slightest," Terminex said as he extended his hand and used the nanobots to cause it to stretch over to the still unconscious form of Logan, then splitting into form small tentacles and grabbing him by the attached spider limbs on his back pulling him over. "Have you anything to say lieutenant?" Terminex asked as he shook Logan in an attempt to wake him up, and by shook he meant slamming him into the ground until he woke up.

"I plead... the FIFTH!" Logan barely managed to get out as he drew out the E in plead and practically yelled the fifth in the sentence.

"Your not in court yet lieutenant, but you very well maybe if it turns out that the usefulness of the only Holon we've captured has been diminished." Terminex said with authority and sternness in his voice.

"There's a LUGnut… in my shoe." Logan coughed out slurred slightly from his unconscious state of being.

"Good god how did he ever get accepted into the inner circle." Severus sighed with disdain as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"If you want to risk being sent to the camps by questioning the high Council on their reasoning then be my guest Lieutenant." Terminex said as he dropped Logan back on the floor, landing with a thud as almost comically a series of screws, springs, and bolts were thrown in the air on impact.

"I am A Okay." Logan said leaning up off the floor and giving a thumbs up before falling back down into unconsciousness again.

"Take him to the med bay and get him checked for a concussion." Terminex orders Severus who nodded in acknowledgment and grabbed the two of his spider legs and began dragging him off into the med bay mumbling to himself.

"Can't have any more brain damage than he already has." Severus scoffed as he entered the lift and ordered two nearby droids to come with him, commanding them to pick up Logan so he didn't have to carry or drag him anymore.

"Now that the distractions are out of the way my dear Julian let us get down to business," Terminex said as he hovered up in front of the Holon's face due to the fact that he was composed of nanobots. "I must say your attempt to escape us was quite foolish."

"Didn't look that way to me," Chase mocked as he continued to struggle in his nanobot captive prison. "Until you showed up it seemed the other loons were losing."

The eye slits that were present on Terminex's face narrowed in annoyance at Chase's remark. " So resilient as always, tell me Julian what is it that drives you so?" Terminex asked not granting Chase the chance to answer his question before elaborating further. "What is it that makes you so sure the Vanguard are coming to save you after all this time? After two years do you really think that they will still consider you useful, because they've already discarded you to the side of the road!"

"Your... lying." Chase said still trying to stand strong, but Terminex did not miss the hint of doubt in his voice.

"Really then, well could you please elaborate what I see in this footage," Terminex said as a group of nanobots split off from his body and formed a screen in front of Chase's face, the nanobots binding him expanding to hold his head in place. "Because if the Polity still consider you one of their best assets then they have quite the way of showing it."

On the screen was a projected image of two Holon's armed with the basic set of armor that had been created. One was a yellow color and the other one made Chase's eyes widen in shock since it was... him? If the image wasn't a fake then the audio that began playing couldn't have been a fake either.

"Hey Yas you ready to let the Good times roll?" The blue Holon asked the yellow one with Chase's voice coming through it.

"Remember eyes on the mission and focus on the prize." the yellow one responds with a female Iranian accented voice.

"Was that a joke?" The Chase Holon on the screen asked turning to look at the yellow one.

"Don't get used to it Julian." She stated before using her Holon to jump off the ledge of a building they had been standing on overlooking Union forces.

"I never do." The Chase one said again as he followed suit, jumping into the ensuing battle that happened.

"What was that?" The Chase Holon that was bound in the nanotech asked himself, not realizing that he had said that out loud.

"Excellent question and something that I myself and the High Council have been wondering since we've had you in captivity for almost to years yet this footage was captured and recovered from a security drone only less than a week ago," Terminex said as his body turned to the side showing off a profile view of himself before his head craned to look back at Chase. "Which only makes us wonder, if you are here then who was it that also piloted an exact replica of your Holon, color scheme included and also happened to have your name and voice to boot."

If Terminex had a visible mouth it would have been showing the most shit eating smirk that ever existed and he emanated an aura of smugness and cockiness that made Chase want nothing more than to punch him in the face and grind his body into dust.

"That's a FAKE!" Chase spat out in defiance both figuratively and if he could have done so literally as he was unable to salivate in his Holon body, nor did he possess a mouth of which to spit with.

Terminex placed a hand on his chin and hummed in thought as his nanotech body rippled slightly like waves in the water. "I suppose we could have faked that recording," Terminex said as he suddenly snapped his fingers and dozens, possibly hundreds more screens appeared all around Chase each displaying a different recording with timestamps dating all the way back to three months after the Union had taken him. "And this one," Terminex said as he pointed to a screen which currently showed the pair of Holon's taking down a group of spider tanks working in nearly perfect synch. "And this one, and this one, and lets not forget this one." Terminex said as he condensed all of the screens into a slightly larger one in front of Chase forcing all of his attention on it.

This screen displayed the same thing as all of the others except this one had an intercepted radio channel on it's side playing the conversation between the frequency of the Holon's.

"Doctor Weller the mission is complete and all refugee's safely escorted to evac points!" The yellow one stated as she pressed her fingers on where the ear would be on the Holon as if talking into a communicator.

If Chase's Holon body could have gone cold then it would have been cold enough to freeze hell ten times over with just a touch as the voice of the one man, whom Chase trusted more than anyone else would save him from the hellhole he was in played over the frequency.

"Splendid job Yasamin, and good job to you as well Chase!" The voice of Doctor Weller played his voice filled with pride and happiness as Chase could only narrow his eyes as he could just picture the smile the doc was making.

"Thanks Doc, see you back at the base soon." The Chase on the screen said doing his classic salute move to the approaching pickup ship.

"Congratulations you two, prepare for transport back to Vanguard Anvil base." the voice of Colonel Marin chimed in over the frequency as the Holon's loaded up on the ships and the feed on the screen cut to static.

"Sure seems like your a prime asset to them Lieutenant," Terminex said as he leaned forward the nanobots that composed the screen assimilating into him and giving his from the shit eating grin that looked more like a demon smiling ear to ear, especially with his pitch black nanotech eyes. "Such a prime asset that as soon as you get captured they throw you aside like yesterdays model and replace you with a FAKE!" Terminex taunted as he emphasized the last word in an attempt to drive home his point.

Anger was practically leaking from the restrained form of Chase's Holon, he had put years into the Vanguard, YEARS OF HIS SERVICE both before and during the war. A war that he basically DIED for and was given a second chance at life, and the moment something goes wrong they just pretend he doesn't exist and put a digital COPY in HIS BODY! A COPY, a literal stream of ones and zeroes that was merely programmed to act and think like him but it WASN'T HIM! HE SHOULD BE THE ONE IN THAT BODY! He was the one who put all of his BLOOD, his SWEAT, and his TEARS into the Vanguard and he placed his trust in Doctor Weller only for the both of them to stab him in the back when the going got rough.

"You fell it yes?" Terminex asked as he began walking in a circle around the restrained form of Chase, the nanobots he was composed of leaving a wispy trail behind him. "The feeling of putting everything you had into a cause you believed in thinking it would all pay off in the end, only for it to turn out to be nothing but a waste!" he continued with disdain and a subtle hint of anger in his tone of voice, as he recalled a memory from his past. "Believe me Julian nobody know the pain of betrayal more than me."

"Shut... the hell up!" Chase growled as he kept his head down refusing to believe what was happening and the information he had been presented with. It was all just another Union trick in an attempt to break him, an he would prove to them that he would not break now or ever.

"Don't deny it Chase, it's simple. They abandoned you the minute that any effort would have had to be expressed on their part to get you back," Terminex said as he leaned in closer to Chase. "They only cared about the weapon you could be, and the moment that weapon dulled they tossed it aside for a more sharper one."

"Stop talking!" Chase threatened as he tried to shake his body to get out of his nanotech prison that confined him in place only allowing his head movement.

"Why must you be so blinded Chase, here I am trying to put your mind at ease and you tell me to shut up!" Terminex yelled as he used his nanotech to enlarge his hand and slap Chase across his face on the Holon, before shrinking it back to normal and letting out a weird sounding sigh. "I know the pang of guilt betrayal brings Chase, I am no stranger to it. Nor am I a stranger to the anger that it brings as well."

"What do you want!" Chase asked as he looked directly into Terminex's eyes, his own filled with a deep hatred that was blazing hot.

"The same thing you do my dear lieutenant Julian Chase," Terminex said as he backed up from chase and waved his hand causing the nanobots restricting Chase to break apart and release him from their constrictive grip, instead moving to assimilate into his form giving it a solid complexion and dense constitution. "The secrets that lay hidden inside the Gen:Lock technology and the destruction of the Vanguard and the rest of the polity!" Terminex declared as Chase was now free, only this time instead of attacking everything around him he merely looked down at his hand, or the hands of his Holon.

"And why should I help you?" Chase asked as Terminex began walking down through the air, the nanotech acting as a type of staircase the appeared and disappeared in front and behind him respectively.

"Because if you do help us unlock the secrets of the Gen:Lock technology and destroy the Polity them I can guarantee that I will do everything in my power to place you back into your body." Terminex said as he took a stance on the ground in front of the Holon.

Chase hummed in contemplation as he debated on what he should do. His hatred and anger towards the Vanguard was enough to make him clench his fist in anger, but that hatred was nothing, NOTHING to what he felt towards that copy. He knew that they copied his brain after every mission whenever he downloaded back into his body, but Weller told him that it was just for research purposes. Instead it was just a copy of himself that was shoved into HIS BODY that got everything he could have wanted. That Copy got everything and didn't have to suffer anything like he had. The Copy didn't have to be picked apart and put back together every single day for his captors amusement, the copy didn't have to listen to an annoying eighteen year old talk about his own online love life while insulting his and the fact that Miranda probably thought him dead. What if that copy had revealed himself to Miranda, what if... that copy had taken his girlfriend! THAT COPY HAD ROBED HIM OF HIS LIFE, AND HAD TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM HIM! He could not, would not, and WILL NOT ALLOW IT!

"And what of the copy?" Chase asked with an air of malice in his voice, causing the now hidden mouth on Terminex to smile.

"Why I believe there is only one solution to that problem," Terminex said as he looked up to Chase's head. "Kill the Copy."


	2. Chapter 2

"You know you didn't have to drag me all the way to the med bay." Logan said as he rolled his wheel chair up beside Severus, his spider limbs having been broken when Chase had gone berserk and broken free a week ago and he was currently in the process of upgrading them.

"Your right I didn't have to drag you," Severus said as he was busy looking under a microscope at a petri dish holding an organic compound he was working with. "The commander just told me to get you there, I could have kicked you there or slung you if I wanted too." Severus said as he cracked a grin that didn't go missed by Logan who just gave a small growl in response.

"Okay I get it," Logan said as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Thank you for getting me there in one piece alright."

Severus merely clicked off his microscope as he picked up the petri dish he was looking at. "Your welcome," Severus then bent own and grabbed a cryogenic storage container that was sitting beside his leg, and placed the Petri dish in a specially made holder in it. Locking the container Severus turned to begin to leave the room before turning his head back towards Logan. "May I ask you two questions."

"Ha ha!" Logan laughed sarcastically as he understood the joke Severus was doing. "You already asked one so what's the other."

"How's that Lugnut in your shoe?" Severus asked as he started giggling before turning and walking out, not missing the 'Fuck you!' that was shouted at him as Logan started rolling away angrily. "Doctor said you needed to have a taste of your own medicine." Severus asked before he straightened himself up and put on a more disciplined and refined composure.

While most would never know it if they knew him on a strictly business level as nearly the rest of the Union did, within the small group of the inner circle Severus was known as the "fun one" to be around. This was mainly because he knew when it was time to work and when it was time to play, which is what earned him the position he currently held as since he knew how he should behave and when this made his superiors consider him one of their best assets. However he never let praise get to his head as most people would since that would lead to him either becoming cocky or arrogant, both of which were things that he didn't need to be in his career. But as of late he had been able to relax more since the incident that Logan had let occur when he caused Chase to go berserk and attack everything in his holding block. The reason, because since that incident and the need to no longer have to restrain him, greater strides than could be imagined had been able to be taken. Already the two of them had begun to develop a basic understanding of the Gen:Lock technology and expected to have their own reverse engineered prototype within a few months, only theirs would have a few modifications. As opposed to the models that the Vanguard branch of the Polity used theirs would be stronger, faster, and overall better as a whole.

Coming to a stop in front of a door Severus cleared his throat as he pressed a button on a panel beside it. "All we need now is time and more cooperation and then soon the Union will be all that is left." Severus said to himself as he entered his private quarters, using the voice activated pass code that he installed into it.

Upon entering he was greeted with the sight of what was basically his lab away from his lab. Stacks of notes stacked neat;y inside piles of Manila folders which threatened to burst apart from the sheer amount of them. Tanks of aquatic and other organic life were stacked against the wall, the largest of them being the ones that held baby sharks, full grown snakes of varying species, and a large snapping turtle that had a crack in its shell with a chunk missing from it. His bed was nothing more than just a cot with a small pillow on it that was so neat and new that it looked like it was hardly if not ever used, which it really never was since Severus had the tendency to pull all nighters when going over his notes and work, pretty much surviving on only five to six hours of sleep a day and coffee in the morning to wake him up. Hey he knew that wasn't healthy but didn't care, after all who needs sleep when there's groundbreaking discoveries of science to be made.

"Hello charlie how are you feeling today?" Severus asked as he knelt down in front of the container holding the snapping turtle. In response the turtle turned its head to look at him before lumbering as he began to turn its shell to face Severus directly. Opening a slot near the top of the container, Severus reached his hand in and used to of his fingers to gently pet Charlie's head. "I have good news for you, at this rate your shell will be all healed up in no time."

Severus then withdrew his hand and gently patted Charlie's shell, before closing the slot in the container and then sanitizing his hand knowing what kinds of micro organisms can grow and live on turtles. It was nothing against Charlie, it's just that he preferred to be safe than sorry when it came down to matters of health and more specifically his health since he knew what the many kinds of bacteria and viruses can do to the human body. After he finished sanitizing his hands he then sat down at his desk before sliding the container holding the petri dish he had been working on earlier in front of him. Putting on a pair of latex gloves Severus opened the container and took out the dish, then opening a drawer on the side of his desk he withdrew a syringe and prepped it for his next procedure. Setting out the syringe on a preset sanitized mat that was resting on the other side of his desk, he shut the drawer he drew it from and opened the drawer under it and pulled out a tape recorder and set it down as well. He then pressed the record button on it and then began his experiment.

"Professor Severus Narcadia experiment file number two hundred thirty one, test one. Experiment will consist to see if the reproductive capabilities of organic cells can be used to reproduce inorganic matter. Test subject is Chelydra Serpentina, or more commonly known as a Snapping Turtle. For the purpose of this experiment I have given him the name Charlie, he possesses a large crack in his shell with a substantial portion missing. Retrieving subject from containment unit now," Severus said as he then walked over and used both hand to lift up the container holding Charlie who, being startled by the sudden movement retreated into his shell. Setting the container on his desk Severus continued his experiment. "Subject is nineteen and a half years of age with no genetic defects. Wound on shell was received when an unknown amphibious predator attacked him, subject recovered nearly an hour after injury was received by a Union Research squad lead by myself and consisting of four other individuals on irrelevant information," He continued as he opened up the top of the container and began pushing it down, the containers having been made to be able to expand and contract based upon size requirements, Severus often likened them to the china dolls that had another doll inside them since he could always get the right size container for whatever animal was being stored into it. Then picking up the syringe he stuck it into the compound in the petri dish before sucking it all into the small vial held onto the syringe. "Beginning injection onto test subject in 3...2...1." Severus counted for the recorded as he then injected Charlie's shell with the contents of the syringe.

As the contents slowly drained into his shell Charlie's head began to twitch up and down rapidly as he felt the oddity enter part of his body. Severus paid close attention as he monitored the area where he had injected the shell at, which was right above the missing piece of Charlie's shell. Picking up the recorder Severus held it close to his mouth as he observed the changes happening.

"Subject appears to be experiencing mild discomfort, no change in shell composition. Will continue observation for prolonged period of time." Severus continued as he used his free hand to strap his goggle he wore with his combat outfit over his eyes.

The reason is because apart from having usefulness in the combat aspect of his job they also helped him in the field of science as well. Pressing a small button on the side of the lens frame a small readout projected itself across the lenses as it gave a analysis on what was happening on a cellular level in Charlie's shell, taking the form of a bunch of cells moving around in a circle. Turning a extended part of his rims it acted like a magnifier as the image of the cells was instead replaced with just one cell that was showing the organelles of it, as well as the chemical compound that was injected into them. Because of this he was able to see the accelerated rate of the Mitosis process that they were undergoing.

"Upon closer inspection the inorganic cells appear to have begun a process similar to the process of Mitosis in organic cells, documenting results and continuing observation." Severus said as he took out his pen and wrote down what he was seeing.

Moving his goggles back up on his head Severus was now able to tell that the missing chunk of Charlie's shell was slowly filling itself back up with newly generated matter. Severus refrained from smiling as in his experience things in the field of science and biology never succeeded on the first attempt no matter what was happening, it was all a process of trial and error mixed with wash, rinse, and repeat. That was why he was hesitant to believe that his first attempt at making an inorganic compound be able to reproduce exactly like an organic cellular compound could. But lo and behold the longer that Severus watched the faster that Charlie's shell seemed to fix itself and in less than five minutes after injecting him there wasn't so much as a scratch left on it.

"Time since injection four minutes, twenty three seconds. Subject Charlie's shell in pristine condition and all damages to it have been replaced. Documenting results and ending experiment one." Severus said with a slight edge of disbelief in his voice as he shut off the tape recorder and wrote down the last of his observations on the experiment.

Just as Severus turned around to put away his notebook and the tape recorder he heard a sharp whine coming from behind him. Looking back he saw that Charlie was slowly lowering his head on the ground. Then he went immobile as he refused to he already knew what happened, but deciding to at least confirm since he couldn't call himself a scientist if he didn't Severus knelt down and checked Charlie's vitals. He had none. Picking up the tape recorder he prepared to add to the tape of his first experiment.

"Five minutes nine seconds after injection subject deceased. Experiment one failure." Severus clicked the recorder off again as he pinched his forehead and sighed.

It seems he has a lot more work to do if he is going to perfect his latest research project.

* * *

Logan was extremely exhausted right now and the main reason was his having to wheelchair around everywhere he went now. He was never one to have backups for stuff he built or more specifically his spider limbs as he mainly preferred to keep the same model and upgrade it as many times as he needed to. Plus the fact that he wasn't the most physically built in the inner circle or the rest of the Union for that matter since he was young and he also didn't work out physically aside from building stuff. Which was the main reason he made his extra limbs able to hold a lot of weight at once each. But if there was one thing Logan was good at it was learning from his mistakes and not making them the next time or getting better at not getting caught. Still doing pushups without the use of his legs still sucked.

"F-f-five." Logan wheezed out as his arms were shaking from over exertion. He had never done exercise before since he never really needed to or could do it without the use of his legs. That was why he trained himself in his mind and dexterity since he was the main mechanic in the Union and was responsible for building the prototypes of everything before it was put into mass production.

"Ca-can't do anymore." Logan exclaimed as he was laying on his side in an awkward position due to the hastily made apparatus that he built to hold his legs in the right position.

After a minute or two of laying on the ground Logan began pulling himself towards his wheelchair that was laying a few feet away from him. Getting onto it Logan removed the uncomfortable contraption holding his legs together and tossed it aside out of his way.

"Next time use padding." Logan grumbled to himself as he wheel chaired over to a table.

Resting on top of it was his latest model of his spider limbs that were built to be over three times as better as their predecessor model, and have a more versatile range of use. If things would work as Logan intended them to he could even give Ironman a run for his money if the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist was real of course. Pulling out a keyboard and other panel control consoles Logan activated his workshops assisting and construction systems so he could continue the construction process. He was fortunate that the higher ups had supplied him with a decent amount of titanium alloy since they were still repairing and modifying Chase's old holding cell into his training room and he was still in hot water for that incident that happened. He had gotten into the habit of referring to the man inside the Holon by his name since they were now essentially allies, associates, or partners however you wanted to word it since Chase had agreed to join after finding out that he was replaced with a copy. Logan didn't much care about the new member to their little team since it just meant that now he could study the inner workings of the Holon with Chase willingly allowing it. Plus, as an added bonus he was also in charge of designing a remodel for the Holon to give Chase his very own unique look and to make the current model more effective. So naturally multiple arms was a must on that list, if only he could find a way to make that work since the Human body only had two and it was a human mind controlling the Holon.

"I can't just do the same with him as I did with myself since I took both me and Severus a year to make the tech for my limbs." Logan thought to himself as he was also busy using his labs equipment to continue constructing his new spider limbs.

For all of Logan's intellect he had zero ideas as to how the human brain worked like Severus did. Which was why he owed the man a favor for his helping him graft a series of panels into his spine that the limbs would lock into. Then again perhaps the Gen:Lock technology would be entirely different altogether and be more like Terminex's condition since he was essentially a virus program that could inhabit the nanotech. And Logan had seen Terminex take all kinds of forms to get stuff done from an amalgamation of tentacles, to a giant holding up a tower relay system.

That's when an idea struck him, if Terminex was essentially just a string of code that was coincidentally the same as his mind, then wouldn't the Gen:Lock be the same since they technically take the mind and place it into a robotic body.

"Yes that could work," Logan said as a smirk crossed his face as he slid out another monitor from his work station and began using one hand to bring up various diagrams and type on it as his other continued to operate on his limbs.

Bringing up all of the files that he had on the Gen:Lock technology and all of the reports from the attacks they had experienced. He also pulled up all of the information that they had been able to coin from Terminex about his condition and how exactly it had happened to him, since he hadn't willingly subjected himself to becoming a nanotech entity. From the few reports and what Terminex could remember of the event it was during one of the Holon attacks back when the Union had caught wind of it. Terminex had been assigned to study and figure out a way to capture the the Holon intact, but his plan went awry when the Vanguard had found his hidden observing base during one of there raid and an EMP burst hit right as he was releasing the nanobots. This apparently made his body go brain dead but copied his consciousness into the Nanobots programming.

"Well that interesting," Logan said with surprise in his voice as he tried to pull up Terminex's personnel file. But all of his information including everything having to do with his name, birthplace, and backstory was redacted with the only information available being what had happened in the accident and his new name. "What exactly are you hiding commander?" The last part being said with an air of curiosity and contempt.

He was pulled from his thoughts as his phone buzzed from his pocket and 'This is Halloween metal remix' started playing letting Logan know who was calling him. Turning off his lab equipment he could hear Logan pulled out his phone as he looked at the contact image he had set for his online Girlfriend. While they had never met and he had never disclosed the fact that he worked for the Union to her, their relationship worked since they both pretty much liked the same things and their semi opposite yet completely alike personalities meshed well. Plus they saw each other in the Ether nearly every other day so it wasn't like it was strictly over the phone or anything.

"Yello!" Logan said as he placed the phone to his ear.

* * *

If there was one thing Chase could give the Union credit for it was the fact that they understood how he felt, and that they were more efficient than the Vanguard could ever hope to be. Since most of the Union's labor force were composed of robots they never really had to stop because they were tired or hungry. Plus they never complained or back mouthed anyone and so long as they were functioning perfectly an entire crew of them could build a spider mech from scratch in less than thirty minutes. Combine that efficiency with the sheer number of crew and factories there were scattered around the Union's territories and you had a good reason for why the Polity and the Vanguard could never do any lasting damage. Still Chase did say he missed a few people that he left, specifically Miguel and Miranda since they didn't know about the Gen:Lock program and if the copy ever revealed itself then they wouldn't know that it wasn't him.

"How much longer do I have to sit here!" Chase growled as he was standing next to the floating form of Terminex, both of them looking at a large room sized monitor that was hanging down.

On it was displaying a map of all of the Unions bases and troop movements in their territory as well as the attack plans that were still in development.

"Patience my dear friend," Terminex said calmly as he smoothly craned his head to look at Chase. "The copy will die by your hand soon enough."

"But when! It's been forever since I joined you and so far all I've done is train to get back into the swing of things!" Chase said annoyed as he was getting tired of always wither training or having the two loons poke around inside him spouting off things he didn't understand.

"Your time will come soon my friend," Terminex said as he enlarged an image of a future expansion similar to the one that kick started the war at New York. "This will be where you make your grand entrance Julian."

"Whats so special about Dallas?" Julian asked as he looked at the attack plan.

"Here is where the closest connection node to the Ether is," Terminex said as a few more images were enlarged over the prior one. "With access to it we could connect to any device with access to the Ether and use any of them as eyes and ears. Or in other words-" He began but was cut off by Chase.

"Complete monitoring over the world." Chase said in slight awe at the scale of what he was talking about.

"Precisely, and with it there is nothing we won't be able to figure out or know," Terminex said as the images were then shrunk and he pulled up the work in progress schematic of Chase's Holon redesign. "But before we unleash you I feel like a wardrobe change is in order."

Chase looked at the new model they were proposing for what his Holon would look like and was trying to process what exactly it was for. It was covered in pointed ends and had a singular eye like a cyclops along with four arms in a smaller image off to the side of the schematic. It was also taller and had several more joints in various places and a nanotech storage and control module on the rear.

"Designed just for you by our head engineer and robotics expert," Terminex said as he looked over at Chase. "Of course it's still in development but soon it will be finished and you-" He said as he pointed a finger at Chase. "Will be the new face of the Union and show the Vanguard just how powerful you really are."

If he had a mouth Chase would have smiled at the praise he was receiving. Sure he got the usual congratulations from the Doc and the Colonel but after years of being pinned to a wall and your insides poked around in he was happy to finally be free. Plus, while he may have called Severus and Logan loons he learned that they did indeed care about each other in their own right as well as the others of the inner circle that showed themselves sometimes. While Severus, Terminex, and Logan stayed at the main base the most being the Scientist, Engineer, and Tactician of the team there was still three others that Chase had yet to formally meet but heard about from the grumbling of Logan. Apparently the best human pilot they had Helga Burkhalter was an expert in the field of bombing raids and strikes, and if Chase had forgotten about or his heart still didn't belong to Miranda he would have considered going after her.

Helga was a small petite woman who had strawberry blonde hair the was tied into a ponytail that went down to her waist, and she had brown eyes that had a blue undertone to them as well as milky white skin that had zero blemishes. She was also always in her modified flight uniform that had been issued to her when she was accepted into the inner circle. It was a more flexible version of the standard issue flight uniform for the few human pilots that were in the Union, except it had a more regal appearance with crimson patches on the shoulders, and golden yellow trim that continued over the crease where the buttons were. She also had several explosive holders on her belt that carried micro grenades and several full size bombs that could be mounted on any surface. Then her standard weapon was either an RPG or her mini rocket launchers that Logan had built for her to be worn around her wrists that covered the majority of her forearm. Overall she reminded Chase of himself before he joined the Gen:Lock program since she was courageous, fearless, and not afraid to do anything to get things done, and her personality was "Explosive". Then there were the rumors that she was the secret child of one of the Unions higher ups, but Chase nor anyone else had been able to confirm or deny that.

Next up was Nigel Peatro the muscle of the inner circle and the best interrogator that they had. He was a person of pure muscle and had no qualms showing off having torn of the sleeves to his uniform shirt leaving his arms fully exposed. His uniform consisted of a large heavy duty pair of black boots with an extendable series of spikes at the bottom for intense interrogation, as well as cargo pants that had a large knife sheathed on his left thigh and a pair of brass knuckles in the pockets. Weighing in at 195 pounds with a third of that consisting of muscle, he was dark skinned standing as tall as six foot three inches and having a broad shouldered build, and a bicep radius of 4 inches. He had no hair being completely bald but did have a pair of sideburns that were cut just before they could frame his chin, and had a scar going from the end of his right ear all the way down his cheek. He also had yellow eyes which combined with his skin color earned him the nickname "Black Cat" among the people he associated with, which he didn't mind as he did have a pet tabby cat that mainly stayed in his room. Also being able to lift two hundred pounds with your bare hands and being able to punch a hole through solid iron with your bare fists tended to send the message to not fuck with you.

Finally was the last member of the inner circle and the one that was the least seen Cтрашиться ショット, or Strazz as nobody could pronounce his first name. He was Japanese Russian in decent and that was evident on his face by the fact that had a mix of tan and white skin that fluctuated between tones. He was also the best gunman of the group with his farthest recorded head shot being five miles away with a modified Barrett 50 caliber. His brown hair was usually combed over to cover his left eye as he was a right side dominated person, and his red eyes with contact lenses tended to give people the look that he was a demon in human skin. Which would actually be believable since he was a high grade assassin that was willing to stab himself through the chest if it meant killing his target, which unironically he had done several times. Then there was the fact that he was a walking armory with two machete's hung on his lower rear waist followed by his personal made sniper and assault rifle's strapped to his back. Then there was his knives strapped to each thigh, and the kunai knife storage pouches on his calves. His belt had several pouches containing smoke bombs, micro EMP's, spare bullets, and other various things. He was also the one that trained the most out of everyone in the inner circle as he was either performing maintenance on his weapons, training, studying, or on a mission. Still that just meant he was hardly around to bother the others,or most likely they bother him. Except today where he was overseeing the training that Chase was going to be doing as since he was now in the Union he needed to be ruthless, cutthroat, and merciless to everything that would get in his way.

"Вы достаточно отдыхали. Еще много возможностей для улучшения.(You have had enough rest. There is still much more room for improvement.)" Strazz said in Russian as he was standing up in the rafters with his arms crossed overlooking the mindless drones prepare the training field for the next session.

"Man do you do anything besides train?" Chase asked as he looked up at him, his eyes narrowing to show how he currently felt.

"Лезвие, которое вряд ли используется, является лезвием, которое притуплено.(A blade that is hardly used is a blade that is dulled.)" Strazz replied as a control console descended from above beside him and several spider mechs and a few dozen drones appeared from the other side of the training field.

"Great! more worthless tin cans to fight, big shocker." Chase said sarcastically as he walked up onto the field.

"Strazz speaks the truth dear Chase," Terminex said as he floated up beside Chase's head talking directly into his ear, or audio receptor since he technically didn't have ears right now. "The more you train in cutthroat fighting the better at killing the copy you will become."

"Yeah yeah I hear you," Chase said as he shook off Terminex, who just floated away backwards as to observe the upcoming exercise at a safe distance. "Just go ahead and start the test."

Strazz's face contorted into one of intense judgment as he tapped a few more commands onto the control console as the large bay doors behind the spider tanks and drones opened and several large Holon sized mechs appeared, that resembled the Holon endoskeleton. "Отлично. Однако имейте в виду, что ваше нетерпение приведет к вашему падению.(Very well. However be aware that your impatience will lead to your downfall.)" Strazz said as his face remained in a neutral judgment position.

"Whoa! What are these?" Chase asked as he hadn't seen these new mechs before and was under the impression that apart from him and the Goliath mech the spider tanks were the biggest ones the Union had.

"Logan has been working on the new Holon schematics we have created from studying you," Terminex said as his blank face gave off the indication that he had a large grin on it. "So far these are the first prototypes of their kind, so please be careful."

Chase just turned his head to look at the new mechs who stood in a basic battle stance with their arms up prepared to attack. "No problem, downfall or not i'll still tear these things apart." Chase said as he got in his own stance and waited for the training exercise begin.

"НАЧАТЬ!(BEGIN!)" Strazz said as all of the mechs and drones opposing Chase sprang to life as a energy shield sealed off the training area to prevent stray fire or the bodies of them from leaving the field and damaging the surroundings.

Immediately the four Holon sized mechs ran towards Chase splitting up as two of them each tried to flank both of his sides. At the same time the drones flying overhead began firing at him and the spider tanks began their crawl towards him as their grapple lines prepped themselves to fire as soon as they got in range. Chase prepped himself as he ducked underneath a quick punch from one of the Holon mechs, and then used his hand to catch a kick that cane from another one of them. Throwing that one back he spun out of the way of the remaining two of them as they attempted to tackle him. The first mech already recovering from the dodged punch turns to deliver another attack by grabbing one of the aerial drones and threw it at Chase who sidestepped out of the way, the drone breaking on impact.

"Well can't say I was expecting that/" Chase said surprised that the Holon mech had destroyed one of its own to win the fight.

"В битве нужно быть готовым пожертвовать всем ради победы. Даже ваши собственные союзники - не что иное, как другое оружие для вас.(In battle one must be willing to sacrifice everything for victory. Even your own allies are nothing more than another weapon for you to use.)" Strazz said as he watched Chase dodge another series of attacks from the Holon mechs, and use his Holon's size and strength to completely crush one of the spider tanks.

"Jeez what kind of fighting do these things use?" Chase asked since it seemed the Holon mechs attacking him just kept attacking for the sack of attacking and had no strategy.

"Смотри за пределы своего понимания. То, что может показаться безрассудным нападением, чаще всего является миражом для большего мотива.(Look beyond your understanding. What may seem like reckless attacking is most often a mirage to a larger motive.)" Strazz explained as he further observed Chase dodge the enemies still left as two more aerial drones were destroyed.

He turned his head to look as two of the Holon mechs were keeping Chase distracted by punching and kicking at him missing more often that landing a hit, as the spider tanks and drones kept on firing at him or stabbing him with a grapple cable that he had to rip out. Unbeknownst to Chase the other two Holon mechs were collecting scrap from the destroyed remains of the downed spider mechs and drones as they smashed them together into one large weapon for them to use. Even though Strazz didn't know who coded the Holon mechs he had a good idea that it was most likely Logan, but at the same time doubted it since he didn't have the skill to code something that advanced. The most advanced thing he could do was tie in his spider limbs into his brainwaves so they could control them by a direct link. That was something Strazz would have to check into later as he didn't want a fox to be hiding among the sheep of their inner fold. But as he said that was something he would look into later as right now he was observing Chase fight against a massive amount of opponents and in a cutthroat manner. After all it was one thing for a person to change sides, but it was an entirely different thing for someone to abandon their morals for said side.

"Dang gotta say these guys hit hard!" Chase said as one of the two Holon mechs fighting him landed a punch that hit him where his jaw would have been, it still feeling as though it was but the lack of any bone there making him feel weird.

"Не отвлекайся в бою. Одна ошибка может привести к лезвию в спине или к пуле в голове.(Do not become distracted in battle. A single mistake can lead to a blade in the back, or a bullet in the head.)" Strazz said as he folded his arms and watched as the two mechs who had been smashing a weapon together lifted it up using all four of their hands to carry it.

"Don't worry about it man," Chase said as he caught the fist of one of the Holon mechs distracting him, and pulled it forward so the Holon was now in attacking range. "These guys, ain't got nothing on me." He continued as he tore the arm off and then used it as a bat to tear the head of it off, earning a nod from both Strazz and Terminex at the use of such a brutal attack that if used against another Holon would most likely lead to them suffering immense pain.

Still Strazz had to give a look of disappointment as the two Holons rammed into Chase catching him off guard, their weapon piercing through his arm causing him to yell in pain as his nerve systems were overloaded as they simulated the effect having a large metal spike jammed through your bicep and shoulder. Going down to one knee as he attempted to pull the rod out his hand was grabbed with two of the spider mech grapple lines pulling it off. He was then kicked onto his back as the three remaining Holon mechs stood over him, one of them still holding onto the weapon with both hands. As Chase prepared for the inevitable strike that would come he was surprised when the mechs instead began to return back towards the hanger and the drones and spider tanks followed.

"Обучение окончено!(Training is over!)" Strazz said as cleanup drones entered the room and began to clear out the carcasses of the destroyed units. "Вот почему ты тренируешь Чейза. Момент, когда вы позволяете себе становиться ржавым или самоуверенным, - это момент, когда вы заслуживаете проигрыша в битве.(This is why you train Chase. The moment you allow yourself to become rusty or overconfident is the moment you deserve to lose in battle.)" He continued as Chase turned his head to look at him.

"I... can keep... going." Chase declared as he tried to pull himself up but couldn't, just falling back down onto his back with the arm with the spike still rammed through it useless.

"Знай свои пределы товарищ. Не пытайтесь делать то, что вы не можете. Работайте усерднее, чтобы в следующий раз вы могли это сделать, возьмите это из сегодняшних тренировок, если ничего больше.(Know your limits comrade. Do not bother doing what you cannot. Work harder so that next time you can do it, take that from today's training if nothing else.)" Strazz told him as he then barked another order in Russian for the cleanup droids to move Chase back into the med bay station they had set up for him.

Walking away from Chase Strazz ignored the buzzing of propeller blades that whizzed past him, instead reaching into his shirt and pulling a locket out from around his neck. His expression changing for just a micro second into one of pure rage and anger before regaining his calm composure and returning it back into it's place around his neck and hidden underneath his uniform. "Не сегодня. Ярость только омрачит мое мнение!" Strazz whispered to himself as he exited the room leaving the only humanesk people left being Terminex and Chase.

"Still... can fight." Chase tried to yell but it instead came out barely a whisper, however due to his being in a nanotech body and a=having enhanced hearing Terminex heard it.

"Rest now Julian," Terminex said as he floated towards Chase who was being lifted upward by use of drone lifts. "For when you awake I can guarantee you you will be able to kill the copy." He said as he began laughing maniacally as he dissipated and his nanotech swarmed in all directions, disappearing into every nook and cranny of the base.

"Copy...kill...copy." Chase weakly said before he passed out, the lights of his eyes turning off to signal that as he was set up onto a large stand as construction mechs arrived as well as large amounts of armor equipment.


	3. Chapter 3

"GET BACK HERE!" Logan yelled as he clacked through the halls leading out of his workshop with his new and improved spider limbs, which he had now named the "Tool Spider Module". Giving reference to the plethora of tools and equipment he had added into them, as well as the upgrades and adjustments he had added into it. if he wanted to now he could build the basic robotic infantry troops in the field either from scrap metals and other things, or from the remains of destroyed ones or he could easily repair entire spider tanks with ease.

But still he was human, and like all other humans he was very far from being perfect which was a fact he had come to accept over time especially being born without the use of his legs. Above all else though he was an inventor and an engineer that loved his job just as much as Severus enjoyed his job in the field of biology. So if you were to ask him as an 18 year old inventor prodigy if he thought he would be chasing a grown 23 year old woman out of his workshop because she stole one of his newest project components his answer would be no... if that question had been asked thirty seconds ago.

"Gotta catch me first!" Helga yelled back to him her German accent barely present, as she used a pile of shipping crates to gain ground on him.

Out of all the other members of the inner circle Logan didn't care much for Helga. Sure she was extremely good at blowing things up from the air and flying any flying vehicle that was made, but that did nothing to help the headaches she gave Logan. Sure he was an 18 year old who had an online girlfriend who was also antisocial and a shut in, but even still there was a fine line he would ever cross in his antics.

"GET DOWN HERE!"

Unfortunately that line didn't exist in Helga's mind.

"You havun't caught me yet." Helga said as she turned around to look at him, sticking her tongue out which only made Logan angrier.

"I swear when I get my hands on you." Logan said through gritted teeth as his legs began digging into the walls in order to take him up to Helga's height.

"So vat does vis little doohickey do?" Helga asked fiddling with it as she jumped down off of the crates just as Logan tried to lunge at her, only infuriating him more.

"DON'T MESS WITH IT!" Logan yelled in rage as he jumped down after her, thudding on the ground from the momentum and leaving an indent in the ground.

The device she had taken from him was a new piece of Gen:Lock tech he was experimenting with, it having been reverse engineered from the components found in Chase's Holon and going to be used in the upgraded form. It's purpose was to work similar to his own Tool Spider module and sync with his brainwaves to manipulate a swarm of Nano tech that would be stored in him remotely. The problem was she fact that all of his current testings of the device seemed to lead to it overloading and somehow exploding itself even though it was completely electrical and there wasn't a drop of a flammable substance in it. And considering that he didn't want to get into anymore hot water right now, he didn't want anything connected to him to destroy anymore of the base.

"Ooh what's this button do?" Helga said as she pressed the large red button that had a warning label on it.

The device just started heating up as smoke started emitting from it, and making Logan start freaking out as he knew now that he only had less than a minute to get that thing to a safe area.

"Gut war nicht erwartet, dass.(Well wasn't expectin that.)" Helga said in German as she tossed the thing over her shoulder towards Logan, who thinking quickly grabbed it with one of his spider limbs. "Keep it Log, just tryna mess with ya." Helga said before she began walking away leaving Logan there.

"Thank god she's gone," Logan said his tone still indicating anger, but a lot more tame as he let out a sigh. Unfortunately he was forgetting about the explosive only a few feet away from him in the air. "OH CRAP!" He yelled as he remembered the explosive hazard in his limb hand and started scrambling to find a way to get rid of it. He spotted a trash chute only a few yards away from him and he quickly hurried over to it. "GET DOWN THERE!" He yelled as he opened the chute and tossed the smoking component full force into it, the quickly turning around and clacking away at full speed.

He doubted anyone of importance would be in the blast range near the trash chute, and if a few of the human workers in the Union were in the radius than they wouldn't be missed. After all it was only the higher ups and the inner circle who were important in the Union.

Logan braced himself as he prepared for whatever blast occurred and had his limbs dig into the floor and the walls using its new splitting system which allowed each of his four current limbs to split into two weaker, but still strong limbs. He had been timing the explosion in his head going off of the other tests he had done and if he was correct the explosion should have happened by now.

"Eh?" Logan said unknowingly as nothing happened and there wasn't even a loud sound, let alone a giant explosion. Just when he began to move forward slowly in case he had miscalculated the chute opened and the component was thrown out, no longer smoking and with a few exposed cut wires, and other things moved or missing. "What?"

Then Strazz climbed out of the chute, before dusting off his uniform and looking over at Logan. "オープンベースに爆発物を投げないでください。(Please refrain from throwing explosive devices in the open base.)" Strazz said as he picked up the component and handed it to Logan, who was currently frozen as his mind was having trouble processing everything.

Walking off Strazz left Logan there alone still holding his disarmed Gen:Lock component that would have exploded. "Isn't he supposed to speak Russian?" Logan asked himself as he always remembered hearing Strazz speak Russian whenever they did have to communicate with each other. Sure he knew that Strazz was both Russian and Japanese in decent but he didn't know he could speak Japanese.

Just as Logan regained himself and prepared to head back to his workshop he an announcement was made over the loudspeakers throughout the base. "WILL ALL MEMBERS OF THE ELITE UNION STRIKE SQUAD PLEASE REPORT TO SECTOR ALPHA, OMEGA CORRIDOR!" A robotic female voice declared over the loudspeakers.

"It's gonna be one of those mornings." Logan said annoyed as he began walking towards the requested destination, passing by the trash chute and using two of his 8 limbs now to open the chute and throw the failed component into it.

He then re-merged his limbs into the usual four that were his default setting. He had been hoping to get more work done on the Holon project so he could further their own Gen:Lock program to rival the Vanguard's since the two they had were causing more annoyances for them as each day passed. Which only put more stress on him since he had to accelerate his timetables for his reverse engineering it and upgrading the current Holon they already had with the original Chase's mind in it, as well as the side project that Terminex had given him that no one else was to know about. This meant he was taking a page out of Severus's book and he had been downing coffee for the last two days to work nearly non stop to make progress and had slept earlier today, and had woken up sadly to get back to work. He had not accounted for Helga to be bored and want to annoy him or that she would happen to walk in and take the device he was working on the moment he goes to get snacks from his stash.

Grumbling annoyances under his breath Logan took the quickest route to the meeting place he had been called to, passing by human and robot workers in the base who to their credit got out of his way as he walked past. Finally reaching his destination he overheard conversation from the others who had already arrived.

"Can someone please explain to me why I had to quit what I was doing to come here!" The loud always angry voice of Nigel said as the sound of hands slamming on a surface echoed from inside.

"忍耐は美徳同志です。私たちが呼ばれた理由は無関係です、それは私たちが呼ばれたということが重要です。(Patience is a virtue comrade. Why we were called is irrelevant, it is that we were called that is important.)" Strazz responded calmly still using Japanese in an attempt to calm his fellow member of the inner circle.

"ITS FUCKING BULLSHIT!" Nigel said as more loud thumping was heard. "I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTENSE INTERROGATION!"

"未来について考え、過去から先へ進んでください。(Think about the future and move on from the past.)" Strazz said still keeping his composure.

"Do you say anything that isn't some double meaning virtue?" Logan asked finally entering the room, his limbs digging into the wall leaving small indents as he took his place around the meeting table. Said table being styled after the Round Table of legend with a hologram projector and interaction system in the center, as well as being tied to every other system in the base.

"私が言うことはそれが何であるかです。他の人がそれをどのように本当楽しいかは問題です.(What I say is what it is. How others perceive it is there own problem.)" Strazz said as he looked over at the new arrival in the room. Him having been the first one to arrive since he had known bout the meeting prior to the announcement and already being in the area.

"Well maybe I'm perceiving my fist in yo face right now!" Nigel said as he leaned forward over the table with a fist in the air, and a large scowl on his face.

"Calm my friend," Terminex said as nanobots began emerging from random places and began clumping together to form his body. "We need no inside qualms while we are all gathered together."

Nigel let out a loud audible growl as he leaned back in his overly large chair to accommodate for his large size. "FINE!" Nigel then let out a string of grumble as he crossed his arms.

Terminex gave a nod in his direction before he walked over towards his area at the table which was the head, him not having a chair since he didn't need one. "Where are Helga and Severus?" He asked his voice drawing out on their names with its echo effect. "They are late."

"Apologies commander." Severus said as he appeared behind Logan, who craned his neck behind him to give a look before moving out of the way so he could sit.

"HELLO ev'ry one!" Helga said as she appeared in the room taking her place between Nigel and Terminex, Logan cringing at her arrival since the whole incident earlier was still fresh in his mind.

"私たち全員が存在しているようです。(It appears that all of us are present.)" Strazz said as he looked over at Terminex while he was sitting cross legged in his chair.

"It appears so," Terminex replied as he activated the main terminal system. "Now then since we all are here I believe it is time I addressed the main concern I have been hearing about." Terminex said as a holographic image of the Chase Holon appeared in the center.

"Yeah! You mean the damn Vanguard trash we're keeping!" Nigel said loudly as he looked over at Terminex with a face of anger, which was normal for him since that was part of his persona.

"That would be it Nigel," Terminex answered him as he then typed in a few more commands into the console and several images of the Holon skeletons Logan had built appeared next to the Chase one.

"And these are?" Nigel asked leaning forward in his chair putting it back on all fours.

Terminex gave a small smirk on his face as Logan did the same already knowing what this was about. "These will be our new foot soldiers against the Polity and all they stand for." He said confidently and with a threatening air around him, as he started chuckling causing everyone beside Logan to give him a questioning look.

"Vats zo vunny?" Helga asked her German accent coming out more than she would have liked since she was getting creeped out by Terminex, since whenever he laughed it was usually something bad.

"Yeah! Care to explain why your laughing it up boss!" Nigel continued as his knuckles tightened.

Terminex stopped laughing as he straightened himself up. "Because the good Doctor Weller has made his first move." Terminex said as a few people in the room were taken aback.

"THE BASTARD!" Nigel yelled out slamming his hands down on the table causing the images currently up to flicker for a few seconds before steadying themselves.

"ネズミは群れを呼ぶために下水道を去った。( The rat has left the sewer to call the herd.)" Strazz said with his normal calm tone as he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

"I kall virst dibs on blowing up verever he'z staying!" Helga said her German accent once again making itself known as her eyes were full of a fire of wxcitment, and she was just below bouncing out of her seat in excitement.

"It would most likely be the Anvil Vanguard base which we are currently not strong enough to attack head on." Severus said hoping to shoot down her idea of attacking the Anvil without the proper response was her looking at him and then saying.

"Zen I shall burn vit all by myzelf!" Helga said as she rubbed her hands together and a large childlike smile was on her face.

"Please if anything you'll just end up getting blown up before you get close." Logan said as it looked like he was reclining back on his spider limbs and peeling off his overgrown fingernails, having stayed out of the conversation till now.

"Pleaze I kan get clozer then you ever kould." Helga said crossing her arms as she looked at him.

"クモは正しいです、(The arachnid is correct,)" Strazz said as both Helga and Logan turned to look at him. "アンビルに対する攻撃の頭は失敗する運命にあります。忍耐力はそれが秋をもたらすために必要なすべてです。(A head on assault against the Anvil is doomed to fail. Patience is all we require to bring about it's fall.)" Strazz finished as Helga then took a moment to consider what he said before pouting and replying with a "Fine", her German accent hiding itself again.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds after that until Terminex spoke up. "Now that everyone has gotten the gossip out of their system I will continue," He said as the images of the Chase Holon and the other blank skeleton ones were minimized and sent off to the side as a map of the globe appeared. "We have intercepted a transmission from the good doctor and it appears that he is kicking off the recruitment of more Gen:Lock candidates."

This peeked Logan's interest as he then listened more intently, since he knew only certain people could use the Gen:Lock technology and if he could get his hands on possible people that could it would make recreating and improving it so much easier.

"So that means now is the time to act!" Nigel said loudly as he clenched his fist.

"私たちは狂犬病の動物の同志のようには請求できない(We cannot charge in like rabid animals comrade,)" Strazz said as he leaned forward. "発疹や残酷な決断をする前に、しっかりした行動計画が必要です。(We need a solid plan of action before we make any rash and brutish decisions.)

Nigel glared at Strazz as the grinding of his teeth could be heard loudly throughout the room. "What was that about rabid animals and brutish!"

"私が前に述べたように、それは私が言うことではなくあなたがそれをどのように知覚するかです。(As I have stated before it is not what I say but how you perceive it.)" Strazz said as he silently tensed his muscles in preparation for what was most liekly to come.

"That's what I thought," Nigel said as he nodded his head, slowly standing up showing off his massive size at how he dwarfed over everyone in the room. That was before he grabbed his chair and threw it at Strazz who ducked out of the way before attacking back.

Before Nigel could continue he had a knife pressed against his throat Strazz on his back with his other hand in the position to tear out both of his eyes, and his legs chocking his chest. "私は他の人がそれを解釈する方法ほど重要ではないと言うことを前に述べたように、(As I have stated before what I say matters not as much as how others interpret it,)". Strazz said speaking directly into Nigel's ear keeping the knife pressed firmly against the vital areas of his throat. "私は「狂犬病動物のような」というフレーズを使用したときに私の声明であなたを特に言及したことがない方法に注意してください、それは存在しなかった接続を描画することを決めたあなただった、(Note how I never specifically mentioned you in my statement when I used the phrase 'Like rabid animals', It was you who decided to draw the connection which didn't exist,).

"GUTER GOTT!(GOOD GOD!" Helga yelled loudly in German as she was slightly trembling noticing the malice emanating off of Strazz at the current time, something that she was not accustomed to since she was hardly ever at the same place as him whenever this side was shown. "Havun't yu vritend him enough?" She asked her accent showing itself again.

Strazz remained quiet as the room was completely silent, his eyes darting to the various people across the room, as if he was gaging them o their current positions. Helga of course was shaking slightly standing up from her chair trying to get him to stop. Nigel was sweating bullets still with his own knife pressed firmly against his throat but Strazz doubted that he had noticed that fact yet. Logan looked like he couldn't care less right now just mildly leaning back against the limbs he had coming out of his back, but the subtle emotion of amusement couldn't be missed from his smile smirk h was wearing. Severus was completely ignoring the entire ordeal and was instead busy studying the current information being displayed on the terminal about the Holons Logan had been constructing. And Terminex looked... like he was expecting this to happen the entire time and was patiently waiting for it to conclude as he tapped his nanobot foot, and had his arms crossed and his glowing red artificial eyes were narrowed.

Letting out an inaudible sigh Strazz removed himself from behind Nigel and dropped his blade behind him as he walked back over to his seat. "あなたが実際に私をオフにダニときのことを覚えておいてください。(Remember that for when you actually tick me off.)" He said as he used his foot to kick up his chair which had been laying down on the ground after Nigel's had been thrown at it, and turned it around sitting back down. Strazz leaned back in it, the sound of his back cracking as he straightened himself crossing his arms and legs as he intended to get back to what the entire meeting was about.

Helga nearly collapsed back into her chair as the entire seen ended, almost fainting with how much her heart was racing. Logan who was next to her let out a chuckle seeing her in such a state after making him a wreck earlier the day. "What's wrong Helga not used to violence?" Logan asked smarmily as Helga glared at him.

"Ja! Zo vat If I am?" Helga said defensively in her German accented English, puffing her cheeks out. "Bezides, Not zike jou have muk experience yourself!"

"Still have more than you small girl," Logan cracked as he leaned farther back in his air chair. "After all with your height you make Yugi Moto look like goliath Ms. David." He cracked referencing her short stature compared to himself, also referencing one of his favorite Subbed Series whose only redeeming dub Quality was Eric Stuart and Dan Green.

"VWAT!" Helga yelled as she understood exactly what the insult Logan threw at her meant. "I vill hak you now that I Ich bin mindestens drei Feet größer als Yugi Moto, der 6-Inch-Fersen mit einem Wachstumsspurt trägt!(am at least three Feet taller than Yugi Moto, who wears 6-Inch heels with a Growth Spurt added!)" She continued her retort stammering halfway through and entering her German dialect.

Logan chuckled to himself seeing the state he managed to drive Helga into. "Hey Helg," Logan asked getting hr attention again.".

"WHAT!" She asked loudly causing all eyes in the room to look over at them now, including Nigel who was busy covering his throat incase anyone decided to put a knife there again.

Leaning towards her Logan whispered into her ear. "Karma's a bitch!". Before throwing himself back laughing as she nearly burst into flames from the amount of anger running through her body.

"And her I thought it was Nigel whom was the unhinged one of our charade." Severus said as he was still busy looking at the notes being projected.

"And pray tell EXACTLY what you mean by that?" Nigel asked as he leaned in closer to Severus. "Without a knife to my throat this time either."

"I merely implied as our dear friend Strazz might say, that you have a tendency to become unstoppable when in the proper mindset." Severus replied knowing that even though Nigel could get information out of a person to flow like a tsunami normally it was others who had to interpret it, most commonly himself.

Nigel responded with a grunt as he folded his leaned forward and braced his head on one of his hands.

"Are all aggressions and insult tendencies cleared from your systems now?" Terminex asked after a few moments of silence from everyone. "Then please for the remainder of the meeting please keep your mouths shut and hold all questions till the end, thank you," He continued as the images being displayed on the projector changed showing plethora of data and their signal tapping systems. "As of 12 hours ago a heavily encrypted radio message coming from a transport ship to the Anvil base of the vanguard was intercepted," Terminex began as a map of the world popped up with the Vanguard bases location marked on it. "Now while our decrypting unit and programs haven't cracked most of the message we have enough to build the following conclusions," He continued as in front of the other members of the inner circle a list appeared, which filled in as he listed off the conclusions. "One thing is that we say for certain recruitment for Gen:Lock has begun," He said as various points on the map of the world being projected were marked. "The only problem is we only have half of the countries of origin that these recruits are coming from discovered. Now this leaves us with a problem."

"Which would be?" Helga asked confused at where Terminex was going with his speech.

"彼が意味することは、我々は潜在的な新兵の正確な量を特定するために unble されていることであり、我々は唯一の国を知っているように、我々は知っているものを特定することができません。(What he means is that we are unable to pinpoint the exact amount of the potential recruits, nor are we able to pinpoint the ones that we know of as we only know the countries.)" Strazz answered her with his neutral expression as he glanced over at her before turning his head to face Terminex who nodded in affirmation.

"Correct. We are unable to fully tell the exact amount of recruits the dear doctor already has picked out minus the Chase copy and the traitor," Terminex said as he pressed a few buttons on the console causing the world map to break apart leaving only North America, Scotland, and Russia. The final one causing Strazz to raise an eyebrow do to him being of Russian decent and wondering exactly who it was that was compatible there. "From the information gathered from intercepted transmissions the following are confirmed countries housing at least one potential candidate," He continued as he then used his hand to swipe the images of Russia and Scotland away leaving only North America. "However we have identified precisely the potential candidate in North America." Terminex finished as the image of a Caucasian blonde haired, brown eyed man was brought up who was in the vanguard Polity branch, the image having been taken from an agent they had planted.

"And who pray tell is this?" Severus asked as he raised an eyebrow leaning forward to see what he could of the zoomed in photo. "He doesn't look particularly special."

"I believe I asked for all questions to wait till the end and to be submitted in writing." Terminex responded as he pulled up the info they had on the person in everyone's display screens.

Helga regrettably leaned over towards Logan. "Correct me iv I kam wrong, but that vas Villy Vwonka right?" She whispered to him which Logan responded with an eyeroll and a nod.

"Now then this man is named Robert Sinclair and is a specialist in the Vanguard," Terminex said as more images popped up around the main console in front of everyone which showed blurry images mixed in with clear ones depicting Sinclair in various scenarios. "From what we have on him he is decorated for service, and is well know for his creative ways in getting his assignments done."

"Which is what marks him as a possible candidate," Logan said sarcastically since the answer was obvious enough, throwing up jazz hands and saying "Big Shocker!"

"Severus!" Terminex growled annoyed at being constantly interrupted.

"Yes commander?" Severus asked as he straightened himself since he was being addressed.

"I want you to poison Logan's next meal!" Terminex ordered sternly causing Nigel and Helga to snicker and Logan to recoil in shock.

"How potent should the poison be?" Severus asked as he pulled out his notepad and pen preparing to note down wat he had to do.

"SEVERUS!" Logan yelled with slight fear in his voice. "You can't be serious!"

"I leave that detail up to your discretion," Terminex said folding his arms behind his back. "Think of it as a research opportunity. Just no fatalities!"

Severus cracked a smirk as he had already began scribbling down possible chemical formula's that he could use.

"I'm dead aren't I?" Logan asked leaning his head back feeling like he already knw that answer.

"Jawohl(yes)." Helga said smirking enjoying the banter that was happening.

"Fine! I'll just build a-MPPH!" Logan was saying before a small amount of nanobots attached to his mouth blocking it and preventing him from talking, the source of them being Terminex who had a hand extended.

"Now that the chattering animal is quiet it's time for the most important part of this meeting," Terminex said as a few more grunts were heard from Logan as he tried to pry off the Nanobots that had cemented themselves over his mouth. "This is a agent of ours named Victor Ray, as of right now he is undergoing training and drills on everything related to Sinclair," He continued as another image popped up in front of Strazz and not the others. "However due to the fact that Sinclair is still out their and our spy's cannot get to him yet," Then Terminex's blank features morphed into a sinister expression as his head craned itself like it was unhinged to look at Strazz. "But that's why we have you Strazz."

Strazz stared straight at the file he had been sent before sending it to his personal device and standing up. "すぐにそれに乗るよ。(I'll get on it right away.)" Strazz said dully as he began walking out of the room, before being grabbed by his arm by Nigel. Turning his head to look at the man he had nearly killed just about half an hour ago.

"Good luck." Nigel said plain and simple before letting go.

Strazz gave him a nod in response before walking out of the room. "And the Emo Edgelord leaves us once again." Logan said sarcastically as he crossed his legs and arms in the air.

His gift for saying that was all of his limbs losing their grip on the ground and his landing flat on his back, knocking a bucket full of random supplies into the air and showering him with a cartoonish barrage of screws, springs, and bolts all of which hit him in the face. "I'm okay!" Logan said as he felt the gazes of everybody looking over at him, having his hand raised with a thumbs up."

"Meeting dismissed!" Terminex said as his body burst into individual nanobots and disappeared into the vents around the room.

"Bout damn time." Nigel grumbled as he stood up from his chair and walked out the room, stepping on Logan's chest in the process.

"OW!" Logan let out a cry of pain as the nearly 200 pounds of muscles pressed down on his chest.

"I will be working on the poison for you," Severus said as he walked by still scribbling on his notepad possible formula's. "Tell me would you prefer strawberry or chocolate flavored poison?" he asked pausing to take a break and looking down at Logan who was still on the floor clutching his chest.

"I'd prefer neither if its poison, but if I have to pick Chocolate." Logan said as weakly gave a smile.

"Strawberry it is!" Severus said laughing to himself as he left the room.

"BASTARD!" Logan yelled after Severus before grumbling to himself.

"Hey Logan." Helga began as she leaned over him and smiled.

"Yes?" Logan asked oblivious to the heeled foot that was being lifted into the air above his privates.

"Karma ist eine Hündin!(Karma's a bitch!)" She yelled before slamming her heel down on Logan where the sun doesn't shine, before leaving the screaming mess of an engineer in the meeting room.

**Authors Note- Hey so I don't normally do this but I would like to ask for ya'll to please leave a review since it is very much appreciated. I also want to thank everybody for reading. Hope everybody enjoys.**


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